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Friends of BrainHealth awarded more than $466,000 in 2026 research funding to seven projects at the Center for BrainHealth. The awards span early detection, dementia risk and resilience, metabolic health and caregiver well-being, and are intended to help researchers build evidence for potential larger Texas grants.
Friends of BrainHealth awarded more than $466,000 to support seven research projects on brain health and dementia prevention, with the funding intended to help Center for BrainHealth scientists develop early findings and compete for larger state grants. The projects cover early brain changes, dementia risk and resilience, caregiver well-being, metabolic health and Alzheimer’s disease.
Six projects were recognized at the Ramona Jones Friends of BrainHealth Scientist Selection Luncheon on September 28 at Dallas Country Club. Three finalists then competed for a seventh award in a live audience vote. The report describes the vote as a “Shark Tank”-style competition, part of a donor-circle tradition that brings supporters into the research selection process.
The 2026 funding includes a new Visionary Scientist category alongside the Emerging Scientists category. Three established investigators received Visionary Scientist awards, while the emerging-scientist awards support projects led by early-career researchers and teams. The audience-choice award went to Christine Dugas for a study of possible links between retinal vascular health, neuronal health and dementia risk.
The projects range from examining whether the BrainHealth Index can reliably monitor early changes to developing profiles of dementia risk and resilience. Other awardees will study a mindfulness-based approach for dementia caregivers, brain resilience and GLP-1-based therapy, and a light-guided training intervention. The report identifies the topics and proposed research; it does not report results from the funded studies.
Seed Grants and Texas Funding
The awards matter because they are designed to support work at an early stage, when researchers may need preliminary data to test a question and build a case for larger funding. The report connects the 2026 grants to the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (DPRIT), describing the awards as a pathway to help Center for BrainHealth researchers compete for multimillion-dollar state grants.
That is a potential funding route, not a guarantee that any project will receive a DPRIT award or expand into large-scale research. If preliminary work supports the researchers’ approaches, the next funding stage could allow broader studies with implications for dementia risk assessment, prevention research and caregiver support. For now, the awards fund proposed investigations rather than established prevention or treatment methods.
The projects also address different points in the brain-health research process: measuring early changes, studying risk and resilience, and testing possible interventions. This range reflects the donor circle’s stated aim to back varied early-stage ideas, while leaving their effectiveness to be determined through research.
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A Two-Decade Donor Effort
Friends of BrainHealth has operated for nearly 20 years. According to the report, the donor circle has raised $6 million and awarded 69 seedling grants since it began. Its funding model is intended to give researchers an initial opportunity to test ideas and develop evidence that could support further study.
The 2026 program builds on that approach as Texas establishes DPRIT as a potential source of larger-scale funding for dementia prevention and research. The source describes the current awards as helping researchers prepare to compete for those grants; it does not say DPRIT has awarded money to these projects. This year’s expansion to a Visionary Scientist category adds awards for seasoned principal investigators as well as emerging scientists.
The projects named in the announcement include Zhengsi Chang and Ziwei Zhang’s work on biomarker dynamics and cognitive resilience in Alzheimer’s disease; Francesca Filbey’s longitudinal study of metabolic health and GLP-1-based therapy; and Dan Krawczyk’s proposed light-guided training intervention. Emerging-scientist projects include work by Mary Glen, Gayathri Maruthy, Ashley Campos and Stephanie Rodriguez, and audience-choice recipient Christine Dugas.
“This year, our community of supporters invested more than $466,000 in innovative research focused on brain health and dementia prevention.”
— Andy Walsh, 2026 Friends of BrainHealth campaign co-chair
Studies Have Yet to Report Findings
The announcement describes the funded projects and their planned research questions, but gives no study results, participant numbers, timelines or outcome measures for the individual awards. It is not yet clear when the researchers will report findings or how the studies will determine whether the proposed approaches are useful.
The source also does not identify any DPRIT applications already submitted or grants secured by the awardees. The awards are described as helping researchers compete for larger state funding, not as evidence that further funding has been approved. Results from the research will be needed before conclusions can be drawn about dementia prevention, early detection or interventions.
Research and Grant Applications Ahead
The awardees are expected to carry out the projects described in the announcement, using the seed funding to develop and test their research plans. The stated longer-term aim is to build a stronger scientific basis for applications to DPRIT and potentially broader translational research. The report does not provide dates for study milestones, grant applications or future results.
Readers can expect the next meaningful updates to come from the individual research teams as they publish methods and findings, or from future funding announcements. Until then, the awards mark an investment in proposed research rather than confirmation that any approach prevents dementia or improves brain health.
Key Questions
How much did Friends of BrainHealth award in 2026?
The report says the donor community invested more than $466,000 in 2026 research focused on brain health and dementia prevention.
How many projects received awards?
Seven projects received awards: six were recognized at the September 28 luncheon, and a seventh was selected through a live audience vote among three finalists.
What topics will the funded projects study?
The projects include early detection of brain changes, dementia risk and resilience, caregiver well-being, cognitive resilience, metabolic health, Alzheimer’s disease and possible links between retinal and neuronal health.
Have the awards secured larger Texas grants?
The announcement does not say that any awardee has received a DPRIT grant. It says the seed funding is intended to help researchers build evidence and compete for potential multimillion-dollar state grants.
Do the awards show that any dementia-prevention approach works?
No findings are reported. The awards support proposed studies, and their effectiveness or relevance to dementia prevention remains to be established through research.
Source: rss
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